Ellen Degeneres on Usain Bolt

Back in the 1980s, I had lunch with a group of Caucasian lesbians who were college friends. The conversation soon turned to Ellen Degeneres, who was just beginning to emerge as a standup comedy star.

One of the women at the table recalled attending the same school as Ellen. She said Ellen was an unapologetic racist.

Occasionally, Ellen slips and reveals her real side to the world. Such as when she tweeted a Photoshopped image of herself riding Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt‘s back like a show horse.

“This is how I’m running errands from now on. #Rio2016” she tweeted on Monday.

You could almost see Ellen running that “joke” past one of her racist friends who dared her to tweet it.

Now she’s playing dumb, like she couldn’t foresee how offensive it would look to treat a world class sprinter like a barnyard animal.

Ellen can save all her apologies for someone who cares.